POLAND Wikana, a Lublin-based company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, has ambitious plans for this year. Its directors are considering the modernisation of a portfolio of properties purchased from Redevco, and are planning to complete a number of retail projects as well as the Wikana Business Park office complex in Lublin. Wikana also wants to launch residential projects in the summer and is to build spa apartments in a joint venture with Uzdrowiska Polskie. The investment costs for all these projects exceed PLN 100 mln.
Healthy investment
First of all the company is entering a new business partnering Uzdrowiska Polskie. We have signed a partnership agreement with a company that manages four health-resorts, under which Wikana will be the developer of spa apartments in the grounds of health resorts in Konstancin-Jeziorna, Iwonicz, Kamień Pomorski and Nałęczów. Work on the first project is to start this year on the Nałęczów health resort and involves the construction of 70?80 apartments, comments Tomasz Grodzki, vice-president of the management board of Wikana. The idea is to develop residential apartments that will also offer a package of health treatments. This model might interest, for example, elderly people who would like to live in resorts with health care services. It is also a good investment for people who want to invest in apartments located in holiday resorts. It will also be possible to buy an apartment under the reverse mortgage system,explains Tomasz Grodzki. The companies have agreed to jointly establish SPV companies, in which both parties will hold a 50 pct stake to implement each project.
Following the trade winds
Wikana is also planning to expand on the retail market, where it is to adapt the six facilities it has bought from Redevco. These are located in Inowrocław, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Kalisz, Kraków, Leszno and Łódź, and have a combined area of 9,880 sqm. All of them are to be anchored by a Komfort store. In some of the locations, Komfort could be joined by new tenants. We will expand the centres with new shops, such as grocery stores, as well household appliance and electronics retailers, says Tomasz Grodzki. The issue of possibly extending the premises is still under discussion. ?It is hard to talk in concrete terms before the architectural concepts have been drawn up for the facilities where extensions are possible. We are currently analysing a number of options. The potential extension work could be launched in 2013 at the earliest,? adds the vice-president of Wikana. The developer is also working on its own retail projects. The concept is based on a supermarket adjoining a small shopping arcade. Three facilities located on ul. Pierwszej Brygady in Nowy Sącz, ul. Hallera in Krosno and ul. Kościuszki in Tarnobrzeg are under construction and should be finished this year. One project, also located in Tarnobrzeg, on ul. Targowa, is at the permit stage and the completion of the project will now take place in 2013, reveals the vice-president of Wikana.
The end and the beginning
In December the company is planning to finish the construction of the first office section of Wikana Business Park on ul. Grygowa in Lublin. The project is currently 65 pct commercialised. In June, the developer is to start construction work on a warehouse with an area of 14,000 sqm, which is to comprise the second stage of the project. It has already been fully-leased. Because the final agreements have yet to be signed, the names of the tenants have not been disclosed. The area of the whole Wikana Business Park project comes to 28,000 sqm.
The company is also planning three residential projects: Morelowy Sad in Jarosław (its first building will include ?42 apartments) as well as two projects in Lublin: Unicka (104 apartments) and Nowy Świat (53 apartments). Additionally, Wikana will continue the construction of facilities in the Miasteczko Wikana complex in Lublin (two buildings with a total of 74 apartments).
Aneta Cichla
